"Richard Kaplan" wrote in message
news:1120751520.3709114750bf2b30df5d880f7f0429e7@t eranews...

"Gary Drescher" wrote When this sort of thing
happens to experienced pilots (1400 hours,
CP-AS/MEL-IR, Angel Flight volunteer; co-pilot, 540 hours), I wonder if
CO poisoning, or some other impairment, could be responsible.

Or just lack of recent IMC experience. Or in fact if he EVER flew an ILS
to minimums at all in actual weather -- no IMC is required to get an IFR
rating. How much and how recently he flew in IMC conditions would be a
valid question to ask.

I agree that's a valid question. But this guy is a 1400-hour CP-AS/MEL-IR
who owns a 182 and has done real flying (not just time-building instruction,
as some CFIs do; he wasn't a CFI) all over the country (friends reported he
"flew at least four times weekly... He flew organs for transplants... He
flew exchange students to San Diego or Las Vegas for a day... He was always
going off on a fly-away somewhere..."). So it'd be pretty astonishing if he
lacked extensive IMC experience.

And even a pilot who lacks recent IMC experience should at least be able to
go missed in benign conditions rather than crashing. But most peculiar of
all, in my view, was his request to "circle to land" while off-course under
a 200' ceiling, instead of going missed immediately. That's really hard to
understand, unless he was somehow impaired. (That wasn't the approach he
crashed on, but apparently something was already wrong.)

Still, I admit I'm just speculating.

--Gary